Trooper's killer ignored ban on driving, police say

DELAWARE, Ohio - Ten years to the month after losing their husband, father and son, the family of Trooper Frank Vazquez was in court again to face his killer.

Allison Manning, The Columbus Dispatch

DELAWARE, Ohio — Ten years to the month after losing their husband, father and son, the family of Trooper Frank Vazquez was in court again to face his killer.

This time, David K. Dye hadn’t killed anyone else. But just two years after being released from prison for the 2001 crash that killed Vazquez and despite a lifetime ban on driving, Dye was arrested over the weekend and charged with driving with an open container of alcohol in his car.

“Frank didn’t die .... and my family hasn’t gone through what we went through so (Dye) can go out and hurt another family,” said Vazquez’s widow, Kristina.

Dye, 53, was pulled over at 2:15 p.m. Saturday by a Genoa Township police officer in a car bearing his name on the title. Inside the car was a mixed drink in a cup, police said. Dye told the officer he was going to pick up a friend and go to the Ohio State football game.

He was charged with having an open container of alcohol and driving while on a lifetime ban but not with drunken driving. At his arraignment in Delaware Municipal Court, Judge David Gormley issued a $20,000 bond. Dye posted bond yesterday and is to be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 29.

Driving under a lifetime suspension is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Dye hit and killed Vazquez, who was on a traffic stop on I-270, on Nov. 5, 2001. Dye spent nearly eight years in prison and was released on parole about two years ago. The fatal crash was the source of Dye’s fifth citation for driving under the influence.

Kristina Vazquez said she was disappointed that her family had to deal with Dye again, especially after he sent a letter to the family expressing remorse and promising that he had changed his ways. She worries how her children, 15-year-old Christian, 13-year-old Kyra and 11-year-old Noah, might be affected by the ordeal, now that they’re older.

And to be back in court near the 10-year anniversary of her husband’s death makes things much more painful.